5 Yard Knife-Pleated Kilt in Braveheart Warrior (Marton Mills Jura)

[TheBrus]

Barb, as always, you are correct. After reweighing my reaction to the kilt itself, I think I was a little harsh. There might not have been any option beyond pleating to the sett for the amount of cloth available--without making unattractive stripes. When you look at the kilt spread out from apron to apron, the sett does look evenly reproduced--so you can't really fault the pleater. It's just a big sett, and you get what you get. I really do like the kilt for fit and price and purpose. But my next kilt will be a handmade one... the cost is worth it, when you look at the quality.

JDB

PS - Does anyone know know the time difference between handsewing and machinesewing? Barb made a good point that it takes less time to sew by machine, so I'm feeling less guilty about the labor rate.

[Paul Henry]

snip....
JDB

PS - Does anyone know know the time difference between handsewing and machinesewing? Barb made a good point that it takes less time to sew by machine, so I'm feeling less guilty about the labor rate.

It's not easy to give a comparison, as they are different products, it might take me 25 hours to hand sew a traditional 8 yard kilt, but I can probably machine sew about 2 of my 5-6 yard contemporary ones in a day. I do a little machine sewing on my trad ones for the waistband, and a certain amount of hand sewing on my contemporary ones. The kilts look and feel different , some hand stitching is almost impossible to replicate my machine, and heavy cloth sewing is so easy by machine and a real chore by hand.
Machine sewn kilts can be well sewn or badly sewn, exactly as a hand sewn can be beautiful or clumsy, it's so much to do with the tailor or creator, sorry not much of an answer for you!

[Barb T]

Barb made a good point that it takes less time to sew by machine, so I'm feeling less guilty about the labor rate.

I realize that I implied this, but I didn't mean to. Actually, some machine-sewn kilts take just as long to make as a hand sewn kilt. Depends on the type of kilt and how much construction there is in it. So, while I think it is fair to say that an entirely hand stitched kilt with all the interior construction has more labor time than an inexpensive machine-stitched kilt with less interior construction, not all machine-stiitched kilts have less labor involved. Ask Steve Ashton, Rocky, or Robert Pel... If you're a buyer, it's a matter of knowing what you're getting (and not expecting more than you're paying for!!!).

[BCAC]

I realize that I implied this, but I didn't mean to. Actually, some machine-sewn kilts take just as long to make as a hand sewn kilt. Depends on the type of kilt and how much construction there is in it. So, while I think it is fair to say that an entirely hand stitched kilt with all the interior construction has more labor time than an inexpensive machine-stitched kilt with less interior construction, not all machine-stiitched kilts have less labor involved. Ask Steve Ashton, Rocky, or Robert Pel... If you're a buyer, it's a matter of knowing what you're getting (and not expecting more than you're paying for!!!).

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